When I woke up and looked out my front door the other day, at the ungodly time of 5:30 AM, I noticed the gray glow on the eastern horizon. I took it as a good sign that we had reached “the other side” of winter’s continental divide, the sparkly (free-flowing, please, not iced-over) watershed downhill run to spring. It made even dour old me feel a wee bit better about things.

The lack of sunshine for extended hours during the winter is a real downer for me–and maybe some of you–physically, emotionally and, often, creatively. My enthusiasm for things sentient drops to paperweight level and I find I am pretty much incapable of doing anything above the rank of breathing. That includes doing my dVerse bartender/good artistic citizen thing and, most scarily, writing. It’s not a writer’s block, it’s a writer’s coma.

I remain in this condition until real live spring, with its longer running and higher-angled sun, new green life, and wonderfully icky mud puddles revive your barkeep back to manageable Poet Guy again.

Until then, I am the unrepentent mope-a-dope, as my dear friend Heather Grace Stewart is wont to call me. But along comes these Tuesdays, when something inside me, a forgotten spring of creative aqua pura, bubbles up to my head, heart, and fingers to cobble together a poem for you folks who participate in Open Link Night.

That’s why I was so heartened to see that bit of dove-gray hope on the horizon Friday morning. I know this bit of three-month night is drawing to its end and a new dawn is on its way to enliven our spirits.

But until spring marches back over the hill, here’s how we can all feel better:

• Link the poem you’d like to share (1 per blog, please) by clicking on the Mr.Linky button just below.

• This opens a new screen where you’ll enter your information, and where you also choose links to read. Once you have pasted your poem’s blog url and entered your name, simply click submit.

• Don’t forget to let your readers know where you’re linking up (I so often forget until about 5:30 PM Eastern Time.) and encourage them to participate by including a link to dVerse in your blog post

• Visit as many other poems as you like, commenting as you see fit. Remember that this is how we connect with those who can support and encourage us, and for whom we provide the same vital benefits.

• Spread the word. Feel free to tweet and share on the social media of your choice.

• Finally, enjoy! Remember, we are here for each other. Engage your fellow poets, talk, chat, comment, let them know their work is being read, and enjoy the input you also will receive. This is all about community. Spread some of your sunshine!